Global events, as well as Australian politics, may spell doom for Australia’s coal industry

By business reporter Daniel Ziffer Two disparate decisions from opposite corners of the world have sounded warnings for the future of Australia’s coal industry.

Key points:

Germany wants to exit coal power by 2038, which could have implications for Australian coal producers

Renewables last year overtook coal as the key source of energy in the European nation

Environmental groups are pushing candidates to outline their position on climate change ahead of the upcoming federal election

In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel confirmed the country would exit coal power by 2038.

In New South Wales, a court knocked back an application for a new coal mine on the grounds it would increase greenhouse gas emissions at a time when they need to be cut.

Neither will immediately derail the freight train that made Australia $66 billion in export earnings last year, overtaking iron ore as our most valuable traded commodity, but both decisions are a snapshot of large and incremental changes in policy and legislation that are hitting the coal sector.

“We want to be out of coal in 2038,” Chancellor Merkel told students in Tokyo last week, after a government-appointed commission released its 20-year plan to completely shut the coal-fired power plants that currently provide almost half the country’s electricity……….

Politics may dictate a shift

Australia is months away from a federal election where senior Liberal Party figures — including Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and former prime minister Tony Abbott — are being threatened by independents who support a rapid shift away from greenhouse-gas-producing fossil fuels like coal.

Even people who cannot vote, but feel passionately about the impact of climate change, are entering the debate.

“Right now we see a lot of politicians don’t represent our vision for the future, especially on climate change, and what we want to do is endorse leaders and candidates who will represent what we believe in and our values.”

The new group is vetting the climate change credentials of potential candidates, giving them stamps of approval and offering campaign support in key marginal seats.